Most Visited Cruise Destination gets Environment Protection

Conservation International (CI), Cozumel’s Department of Tourism and the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association witnessed the culmination of their 12-month partnership with the signing of a groundbreaking conservation agreement by cruise industry leaders representing government, private sector, civil society, and cruise lines as part of the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (MARTI).

By facilitating this agreement the partners set into motion a major environmental initiative that will help preserve some of the most endangered biodiversity living in the world’s most visited cruise destination: Cozumel, Mexico.

“This is an exciting moment in time, bringing many different interests together to work on the common goal of protecting
Cozumel’s natural heritage in order to strike the right balance
between tourism and conserving the environment it depends on.” Said Seleni Matus, MARTI Advisor for CI. “Maintaining the health of Cozumel’s natural assets is vital not only to global biodiversity but also to the island’s economic health and stability and the well-being of its inhabitants.”

The agreement provides a framework to facilitate the sustainability of cruise tourism in Cozumel through concerted action by government, private sector, civil society organizations and cruise lines that all have a stake in ensuring a healthy future of the island’s natural assets. Cozumel’s cruise industry leaders have agreed to work together to:

* Enhance environmental awareness and education of cruise ship
passengers, tour operators, service providers and the local
community
* Improve island management of tourism infrastructure, including
improving island traffic and waste management
* Fostering increased protection for Cozumel’s reef system
* Promoting consistent application and enforcement of laws and
regulation

Mexico’s Undersecretary for Tourism Planning and Secretary of
Tourism for the State of Quintana Roo were honorable witnesses to the signing of this unprecedented conservation agreement.

Cozumel’s rich biodiversity makes the island a site of high global conservation importance. In 2006, the island had 1,058 cruise ship dockings, which brought approximately 2.6 million cruise ship visitors to Cozumel. On peak days, the island receives up to nine cruise ships, which can bring more than 10,000 visitors to the island in one day. The rapid growth in cruise tourism has put greater pressure on environmental resources.

“As the world’s most visited cruise destination, Cozumel takes
seriously the challenge of balancing continued growth of cruise
tourism with protection of our island’s natural heritage,” said
Cozumel’s Mayor Gustavo Ortega Joaquín about the initiative. “Moving forward, all sectors of Cozumel’s tourism industry will need to continue to work together to face the larger challenge of balancing continued growth of tourism and development, both within and beyond the cruise sector, with sustained and large-scale conservation efforts.”

These actions emerged from a series of focus groups and a
multi-stakeholder workshop that brought together more than 80 cruise industry leaders to define high priority environmental issues related to cruise visitation, and reach consensus on collaborative actions for addressing them. This participatory planning process for the cruise industry is the first of its kind in the region – and perhaps the world – making Cozumel a pioneer cruise destination in demonstrating its commitment to protecting its natural attractions and biodiversity.

Cruise industry leaders formed a multi-sector Destination
Stewardship Working Group through which they will collaborate to implement the commitments outlined in the conservation agreement. Over the past four months, this Working Group has implemented three easy conservation projects that are already demonstrating tangible improvements, including the production of a 30-second educational video shown to passengers onboard cruise ships encouraging them to leave a light footprint display of a photo exhibition highlighting Cozumel’s most pristine areas near piers and shopping areas, and a recycling campaign on board all tour boats and offices of onshore service providers.

Next steps include continuing to develop the environmental education campaign, not only for cruise ship passengers, but also for service providers and the local community. It is estimated that Cozumel’s destination-level Cruise Passenger Education Campaign will reach more than 500,000 cruise visitors over the next six months.

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, of which Cozumel’s coast is a part, is one of the world’s most endangered reef systems which furthers the need for cooperation among tourism leaders throughout the region to work together to minimize tourism industry’s footprint and enhance its contribution to the protection of the longest barrier reef system in the Western Hemisphere.

This initiative was made possible with support from National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Coral Reef Conservation Fund and the Cruise Lines International Association.

MARTI – The MesoAmerican Reef Tourism Initiative is a project of Conservation International, Amigos de Sian Ka’an and the Coral Reef Alliance along with many local, national and international partners.

Valere Tjolle